Agenda and minutes

Present: Councillor L Mulherin (Leeds) – Chair

Councillor R Forster (City of Wakefield MDC)

Councillor H Hayden (LCC)

In Attendance:  S Tariq (LCC), S Johal (LCC), V Schofield (Wakefield MDC), S Whiteley (OAWY), E Booth (OAWY) and J Grieve (LCC)

The Chair introduced and welcomed Vicky Schofield the new Service Director for Children’s Social Care at Wakefield District Council.

To consider any appeals in accordance with Procedure Rule 15.2 of the Access to Information Rules (in the event of an Appeal the press and public will be excluded)

(In accordance with Procedure Rule 15.2, written notice of an appeal must be received by the Head of Governance Services at least 24 hours before the meeting

There were no appeals against refusal of inspection of documents.

1  To highlight reports or appendices which officers have identified as containing exempt information, and where officers consider that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons outlined in the report.

2  To consider whether or not to accept the officers recommendation in respect of the above information.

3  If so, to formally pass the following resolution:-

  RESOLVED – That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following parts of the agenda designated as containing exempt information on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information, as follows:-

There were no items identified where it was considered necessary to exclude the press or public from the meeting due to the confidential nature of the business to be considered.

To identify items which have been admitted to the agenda by the Chair for consideration

(The special circumstances shall be specified in the minutes)

There were no late items of business identified.

To disclose or draw attention to any disclosable pecuniary interests for the purposes of Section 31 of the Localism Act 2011 and paragraphs 13-16 of the Members’ Code of Conduct. 

There were no declarations of any disclosable pecuniary interests.

To receive apologies for absence (If any)

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor V Kendrick (Kirklees)

To confirm as a correct record, the minutes of the previous meeting held on 6^th July 2018.

(Copy attached)

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 6^th July 2018 were accepted as a true and correct record.

To consider any Matters Arising from the minutes.

Head of Service Report (Minute No.8 referred) – With reference to Resolution (iii) and the decision to supply Members with details of the interagency budget pressures. The Chair reported that the requested information had been supplied to Assistant Directors but regrettably had not been passed onto Members. The Chair emphasised the need to keep Members informed directly when information was requested at the Joint Committee. Furthermore the Chair noted that each local authority needed the information in relation to financial pressures which elected members would need to take into account in budget setting.

To consider a report by the Director of Children’s and Families which provides a summary from the Head of Service on the developments of the service since the last report to the Committee in July 2018.

(Report attached)

The Director of Children’s Services submitted a report and provided a summary of the developments within One Adoption West Yorkshire since the last report in July 2018, which included issues around:

·  Staffing & HR

·  Accommodation

·  Information Technology

·  Budget

·  Duty System

·  Partnership Working

·  Centre of Excellence Project (Separate agenda item)

·  Meetings with Medical Advisors

·  Virtual School Head (VSH)

·  Special Guardianship 

·  Performance Management (Separate agenda item)

·  Recruitment and Assessment

·  Adoption Support

·  Family Finding

·  Development and Service Development

Referring to staffing and HR, the Head of Service reported that Mary Brudenell, Service Manager had recently left the service, having emigrated to New Zealand. Although a positive move for Mary it was a loss to the service. A new Service Manager Michelle Rawlings had since been appointed.

Members noted that issues around information technology are progressing, the new adoption support workflow was being developed and was due to be finalised by the end of the year. Accessing local authority systems from a portal on the Leeds laptop remains an outstanding issue. This issue had been escalated within the local authorities in order for the work to be prioritised.

Members were informed that following the rollout of Enterprise Voice technology a revised Duty system came into effect on 2nd July 2018. This meant that duty was now rotated between the 3 main office bases in Bradford, Huddersfield and Leeds on a weekly basis. This had reduced the amount of time staff spend travelling to Kernel House and there had been no adverse impact upon the ability to take calls and respond effectively. The Head of Service said that the change has been viewed positively by staff and that the teams working within each office had more opportunities for networking and sharing knowledge and good practice as they come together more frequently. Members noted there had been ongoing issues within two local authorities about the capacity of medical advisors to undertake medical health assessments of children’s health needs in a timely manner. Members were informed this had led to some delays for children progressing care plans. The issue had been discussed by each local authority with commissioners in health seeking improvements to the service.

Councillor Forster said that delays in children’s medical checks was a concern. He asked if he could be supplied with further details with a view to taking up the matter directly with health partners.

Members noted a number of issues had arisen following the One Adoption West Yorkshire staff survey and event feedback – 2^nd October 2018, and queried if the issues raised had been addressed.

In responding the Head of Services said all the issues had been addressed, and it was the general view of staff that they felt that they had been listened to and matters addressed.

Members welcomed the offer/ delivery of training from One Adoption West Yorkshire to other Regional Adoption Agencies (RAA’s) across the country and requested if local Members could be informed when such events were going ahead.

The Head of Service confirmed that local  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

To consider a report by the Director of Children’s and Families which sets out the second quarter performance report of the regional agency.

(Report attached)

The Director of Children’s Services submitted a report which provided the second quarter performance statistics of the regional agency.

Addressing the report the Head of Service said the report provided the basis for performance across the region with an aim to improve practice internally and across the partnership.

Members were informed that adoption support remained one area that continued to be an issue at a national and regional level, with the delay in the implementation of a national dataset. A new adoption support workflow within the One Adoption West Yorkshire (OAWY) case recording system would start to address the issue, with new reports being developed in the first half of next year. It was anticipated that reporting regarding adoption support would start in April 2019.

Members queried how many adopters had been recruited and approved.

In responding the Head of Service said that it was intended that a figure of 120 adopters would be recruited by the end of the March 2019, compared to 69 for the previous full year. The half year figure was 51 as reported in the performance report. In stage one of the process of recruiting adopters there were delays in waiting for the medical needs assessments completed by GP’s of applicants and less so a delay in processing the DBS checks. This could lead to delays in stage one of the process, which leads to delays in approvals

Members queried if it was still difficult to recruit adopters for sibling groups.

The Head of Service said getting adopters for sibling groups continued to be challenging, locally and nationally. This was due to issues around the adopters feeling confident in their ability to meet the needs of a sibling group as well as having suitable housing and ensuring that good support packages were available to adopters.

In summing up the Chair said it was pleasing to see that overall performance was going in the right direction

RESOLVED –

(i)  To note the proposed performance information

(ii)  To support the further development of this work

The date and time for the next meeting to be determined.

RESOLVED – That future meetings be scheduled as follows:

·  Wednesday 13^th March 2019 at 1.00pm

·  Monday 8^th July 2019 at 1.00pm

(All meetings to take place in the Civic Hall, Leeds)